TV Review: Falling Skies

Being that this show has just starting airing its second season this week, I felt it appropriate to write my thoughts on the show.

Falling Skies is a TNT series following a band of survivors fighting against an alien invasion of hexapedal aliens, known as “skitters”, and their superior technology. The main character is a college history professor turned soldier named Tom Mason (played by Noah Wyle), who lives with a group of civilians (including his 2 sons) and militia members and obsesses over finding his 3rd son, who was taken by the aliens.

First off, one of my favorite things about this show is that it starts off well after the invasion occurred. So you start with the aftermath and get to piece together what actually happened during the initial invasion over time. It makes the show less rushed and allows it to paint it’s own background in a more elegant manner.

Secondly, it shows a perspective that is rarely given in world-important TV shows and movies like this. Usually in the story of an alien invasion, you’re following the President of the US or some super-genius satellite technician and a cocky combat pilot as they perform super-heroic feats that ultimately save the world. Not so in this show. You follow a family and the group they travel with as they eek out a meager existence while desperately avoiding detection (and eventually death or enslavement) by the aliens. We get to see spans of time where everyday is a struggle by itself and the demoralizing desperation that accompanies not having enough food or medicine or a warm place to sleep at night. All of this bleakness is offset by the occasional small victory (like defeating one, solitary alien), but you understand why, to them, it feels like they just won the war. I found myself cheering and fist pumping at these little victories on several occasions.

There was only one thing that really bothered me in the first season and they alleviated my concerns within 2 or 3 episodes so well that I was excited about the characters discovering the same discrepancy. It actually made me more invested in the show, to find out the answer to my question.